Wednesday, April 25, 2012

In a future world, Vampires reign. Humans are blood cattle. And one girl will search for the key to save humanity.

Allison Sekemoto survives in the Fringe, the outermost circle of a vampire city. By day, she and her crew scavenge for food. By night, any one of them could be eaten.

Some days, all that drives Allie is her hatred of them. The vampires who keep humans as blood cattle. Until the night Allie herself is attacked—and given the ultimate choice. Die or become one of the monsters.

Faced with her own mortality, Allie becomes what she despises most. To survive, she must learn the rules of being immortal, including the most important: go long enough without human blood, and you will go mad.

Then Allie is forced to flee into the unknown, outside her city walls. There she joins a ragged band of humans who are seeking a legend—a possible cure to the disease that killed off most of humankind and created the rabids, the mindless creatures who threaten humans and vampires alike.

But it isn't easy to pass for human. Especially not around Zeke, who might see past the monster inside her. And Allie soon must decide what—and who—is worth dying for.

Review:

About sixty years after Red Lung, a deadly virus killed off most of the world's human population, vampires rule the world. The few humans left are considered blood cattle to them. Registereds are well fed and protected from rogue vamps and other dangers while Unregistereds are half starved barely living on the fringes of societies. While the registereds live a privileged life it also has it's draw backs, they must give blood. Being unregistered means that they don't have to give blood, but it also means you are unprotected from danger.

Allison Sekemoto is one of the unregistereds, living in an abandoned school building, with her friends. She has had a hard life. Hunger is nothing new to her. Allison doesn't just sit there and take it though, while out on a scavenging for food, she finds a whole basement full of food. Going back to get the food means Allison and her gang must go through the rabid infested ruins, but it's a risk they're willing to take and it costs them their lives. Lying on the ground dying a mysterious vampire named Kanin finds her. He gives her a choice, a quick death or to become like him, an immortal. Allison has always hated vampires, for what they are, what they've done, everything about them, but she doesn't want to give up either.

Once she becomes the thing she hates most, a monster, she fights to hold onto her humanity, struggles with the demon that threatens to overpower her.

Kanin is a good teacher, although cold, secretive and standoffish, he has his reasons. He teaches Allie what it takes to survive as a vampire.

But Allison's time with Kanin is short lived. She soon has to leave. She comes across Zeke and his small band of traveling humans. In their quest to find Eden, a city without the threat of vampires or rabids.

From the first page I was drawn into Julie's world. The characters of the book are amazing. Allie was strong and afraid of nothing. She was a fighter. Zeke was sweet, caring and compassionate. The vampires in this book were terrifying and bloodthirsty (think <i>30 days of Night</i>) and the rabids were horrifying (I thought of <i>The Descend</i>). I love dystopian and I love vampires so for me this was one of my favorites of 2012.

Beg, burrow or steal (well not steal) this book because you will want to read it!

Saturday, April 14, 2012

Sarah over @ I'm Loving Books probably thinks I'm a stalker or something because I visit her blog every day, I mean it, every day. Why? Because I love her team buttons and her banners and I check to see if she has a new one to put on my blog, and what's better than those banners? How about a giveaway! She's having a huge ARC giveaway.

Tuesday, April 10, 2012

The Annihilation of Foreverland

Tony Bertauski

Kindle Edition

December 31, 2011

Goodreads:

When kids awake on an island, they’re told there was an accident. Before they can go home, they will visit Foreverland, an alternate reality that will heal their minds. Reed dreams of a girl that tells him to resist Foreverland. He doesn’t remember her name, but knows he once loved her. He’ll have to endure great suffering and trust his dream. And trust he’s not insane. Danny Boy, the new arrival, meets Reed’s dream girl inside Foreverland. She’s stuck in the fantasy land that no kid can resist. Where every heart’s desire is satisfied. Why should anyone care how Foreverland works? Together, they discover what it’s really doing to them.

Review:

I didn't know how well I would like the book, to be honest, the cover looked dreary to me, but I was wrong the think that way it was well written, fast-paced and unique.

Danny Boy wakes up confused and don't know where he is. Without any memories of his life or what happened to him, he is told that he was in an accident and is undergoing treatment in a all boy's camp.

This was a different book than any I read before because it was mostly male characters. It started slow for me but after I got into the book it was hard to put down because I wanted to know what was going to happen to them.

Fans of science fiction, mystery and dystopian would enjoy this book. It is a darker novel though. Bypass the cover and give this book a shot, you won't be disappointed!

This digital copy was given to me free from the author for an honest review.

Monday, April 9, 2012

"Incorporating suspense and romance, this contemporary, edgy, Grimm-based novel is an entertaining and well-written entry in the crowded but popular genre."—Booklist

Mirabelle's past is shrouded in secrecy, from her parents' tragic deaths to her guardians' half-truths about why she can't return to her birthplace, Beau Rivage. Desperate to see the town, Mira runs away a week before her sixteenth birthday—and discovers a world she never could have imagined.

In Beau Rivage, nothing is what it seems—the strangely pale girl with a morbid interest in apples, the obnoxious playboy who's a beast to everyone he meets, and the chivalrous guy who has a thing for damsels in distress. Here, fairy tales come to life, curses are awakened, and ancient stories are played out again and again.

But fairy tales aren't pretty things, and they don't always end in happily ever after. Mira has a role to play, a fairy tale destiny to embrace or resist. As she struggles to take control of her fate, Mira is drawn into the lives of two brothers with fairy tale curses of their own . . . brothers who share a dark secret. And she'll find that love, just like fairy tales, can have sharp edges and hidden thorns.

Review:

Like a lot of the books that I pick to read it was the cover that drew me in, the cover is beautiful in a creepy way.

Mirabelle or Mira, has lived a sheltered life. She has lived with her two godmothers after her mother and father were killed when she was just a baby. Just before her sixteenth birthday Mira decides to run away to Beau Rivage, the place where her parents were killed. There she finds a little more than she's bargained for.

It took me only one day to finish it, for me that's good because I normally read slow. I loved the author's twist on the fairy tales. I got emerged in the book, became part of it.

This is one of my favorite retelling of fairy tales. The mix of mystery, fairy tales, and yes there was romance. It was fun guessing which character was from which fairy tale. The characters were great, I loved them all. The only thing I would say about it was the beginning was kind of slow for me, and the end was just the opposite, the end was fast.

Wednesday, April 4, 2012

I got an email for the Hush, Hush graphic novel.

Here's the Goodreads synopsis:

For Nora Grey, romance was not part of the plan. She''s never been particularly attracted to the boys at her school, no matter how much her best friend, Vee, pushes them at her. Not until Patch came along. With his easy smile and eyes that seem to see inside her, Nora is drawn to him against her better judgment. But after a series of terrifying encounters, Nora''s not sure who to trust. Patch seems to be everywhere she is, and to know more about her than her closest friends. She can''t decide whether she should fall into his arms or run and hide. And when she tries to seek some answers, she finds herself near a truth that is way more unsettling than anything Patch makes her feel. For Nora is right in the middle of an ancient battle between the immortal and those that have fallen - and, when it comes to choosing sides, the wrong choice will cost her life This title also contains an exclusive, original story written especially for this book by the author. This bonus story tells what happens to the characters between Book 1 and Book 2 of this series and will only be available in this book.

And here’s the Hush, Hush press release. Patrick from Sea Lion Books has given me the go ahead to give you all a sneak peak of it. Thank you Patrick!

HUSH, HUSH

Graphic Novel Preview

The Graphic Novel will be in stores APRIL 18th. For more information click Sea Lion Books.

I haven't read the books yet, but I know a lot of people like the series and it looks awesome. I don't know when I'll get around to reading the books.

Tuesday, April 3, 2012

I haven't read as much as I should of last month, so this month I'm trying the April Page Count Challenge/Contest, hosted by Angela @ The Reading Angel. Last month I made a To-Read list but never got around to it. Maybe this will motivate me to read more. It sounds fun.

Seventeen-year-old Ismae escapes from the brutality of an arranged marriage into the sanctuary of the convent of St. Mortain, where the sisters still serve the gods of old. Here she learns that the god of Death Himself has blessed her with dangerous gifts—and a violent destiny. If she chooses to stay at the convent, she will be trained as an assassin and serve as a handmaiden to Death. To claim her new life, she must destroy the lives of others.

Ismae's most important assignment takes her straight into the high court of Brittany—where she finds herself woefully under prepared—not only for the deadly games of intrigue and treason, but for the impossible choices she must make. For how can she deliver Death’s vengeance upon a target who, against her will, has stolen her heart?

Review:

While it looked like a long book at first with 500+ pages, after I started reading it, it went fast.

Ismae has had a hard life. After living seventeen miserable years with her abusive father, he sells her to Guillo the pig farmer for a few coins, Ismae hopes that the arranged marriage will be her salvation, but Guillo is not her knight in shining armor. Marriage life is not kind to Ismae, she still endures beatings and even being locked away. She is soon rescued and is sent to the convent of St. Mortain, the god of death. Once there she learns of she was sired by death himself and gets the chance to study the art assassination and serve as a handmaiden to death.

I liked how Ismae grew within the book. Ismae was a strong heroine.

Thank you to Houghton Mifflin Harcourt and NetGalley for an early ARC eBook.

Hello, Welcome!

I'm your average butterbeer addict, animal loving, book worm. Reading is my drug of choice, and I don't have any interest to reform from my addiction. I could spend days in Borders (R.I.P. Borders) Barns and Noble and never be bored. I read just about anything but my favorite books are YA. Studying to be a veterinarian assistant.